Reading difficulties are common in our schools. In fact, in a recent national assessment, about one-third of 4th graders in the United States failed to demonstrate even "partial mastery of prerequisite knowledge and skills" necessary to read and understand grade-level text (Lee, Grigg, & Donahue, 2007, p. 6). In schools that serve minority populations and many students who live in poverty, this percentage is even higher; more than half of the students in these groups cannot read and understand grade-level text at the basic level (Lee et al., 2007). A great deal of research has been done in the past 20–30 years to address this problem, and some significant findings have resulted. Especially important are the findings that a) students do not "outgrow" reading problems (Francis, Shaywitz, Stuebing, Shaywitz, & Fletcher, 1996; Juel, 1988; Torgesen & Burgess, 1998) and b) the vast majority of reading problems—even those that would develop into serious reading difficulties—can be prevented when students in the primary grades are provided with quality classroom reading instruction along with additional small-group intervention when needed (Mathes & Denton, 2002; Torgesen, 1998, 2000). If students do not receive high-quality instruction and intervention, early reading problems often develop into serious reading difficulties (Stanovich, 1986). Remediation of reading difficulties for older students is also possible, but it is more difficult than preventing the problems through early intervention (see Blachman et al., 2004; Denton, Fletcher, Anthony, & Francis, 2006; Torgesen et al., 2001).

The Power of Instruction

A central theme of this body of reading research is that quality reading instruction is powerful! Waiting for students to be ready to learn to read doesn't work. Some people seem to be looking for the "miracle of the month club" when it comes to helping students with reading problems, but there are no quick fixes. Noninstructional strategies such as having students read through colored overlays or do eye exercises have little or no research support, but studies of reading instruction have consistently shown that nearly all students can be taught to read (e.g., Felton, 1993; Jenkins & O'Connor, 2002; Mathes et al., 2005; Vaughn et al., 2006). In fact, brain imaging research has demonstrated that the way the brain processes information is different in typically developing readers than in those at risk for or experiencing reading difficulties, but that these processing patterns in the brains of struggling readers—even those with severe dyslexia—can actually change in a period of a few weeks when they are provided with concentrated, powerful reading instruction (see, for example, Denton, Fletcher, Simos, Papanicolaou, & Anthony, 2007; Simos et al., 2002).

Quality Classroom Reading Instruction

Providing quality classroom reading instruction with certain research-validated characteristics can make a big difference for struggling readers. For example, Foorman, Francis, Fletcher, Schatschneider, and Mehta (1998) found that when provided with a quality reading program that included explicit, systematic instruction in the alphabetic principle (how print represents the sounds of language) within a print-rich classroom environment, 75% of the 1st graders who were in the bottom 20% of their classes in reading could learn to read words in the average range without additional intervention. This is important, because the most prominent characteristic of students with dyslexia is the inability to accurately read words (see Lyon, 1995).

As schools adopt and begin to make use of programs and approaches that are supported by scientific reading research, it is important that teachers receive the training and support they need to implement these programs well. There is no silver bullet—the problems of struggling readers are not solved by simply adopting a particular program. What teachers emphasize from these programs and how they deliver instruction matters a great deal.